ROUND 2 TAKES ON CLASSIC KIT BRANDS LINDBERG AND HAWK

NEWS UPDATE FROM MAT IRVINE:
Round 2 Corporation, owner of the AMT, MPC and Polar Lights brands, has just acquired Lindberg and Hawk, both revered names from the early days of plastic kits.

Lindberg and Hawk are two of the oldest kit names, though Lindberg (under which label Hawk has run in the recent past) has had a roller-coaster of ups and downs over the years. However, a resurgence in the 1990s saw brand-new kit lines being introduced, and Hawk bought back some of its iconic kits, such as the Weird-Ohs.

Survival doubt
But output declined in the 2000s, and company survival has been in doubt more than once over the last decade. But now it seems that both Lindberg and Hawk have a new lease of life with Round 2.

New owner
The Round 2 Press Release runs: “Round 2 LLC, acquires Lindberg and Hawk Model Kit Brands. Round 2 to Produce Popular Land, Air, Sea & Space Models - Adding to AMT, MPC & Polar Lights.

The PR release goes on: “...Round 2, LLC, is pleased to announce the acquisition of the Lindberg and Hawk Models brands and assets from J. Lloyd International. With the transaction, Round 2 adds these two well-recognized and historic plastic model kit names to their existing trio of AMT, MPC and Polar Lights model kit lines, licensed from Learning Curve Brands, Inc. in 2008 and purchased outright in 2012.

Five-brand stable
“Consumer trust and excitement has been building over Round 2’s efforts with the initial three brands since 2008. Now, with the assets of five major model companies in its stable, Round 2 solidifies its position as a top producer and fierce competitor in the plastic kit sector of the hobby industry.

Diversity
Thomas Lowe, President and CEO of Round 2 states: “The addition of Lindberg and Hawk results in a combined product catalogue for Round 2 that is so diverse, it will include virtually every type of model kit genre imaginable and in a wide range of scales. Whether you’re looking for cars, trucks, aircraft, ships, sci-fi, space exploration, anatomy and figures or even crazy monsters, we now have it all! We’ve made plans to hit the ground running with these brands and are ready to go.

Moving a pickup
“As we progress into the future, we will be working with the vintage Hawk and Lindberg tooling to resurrect more exciting kits that haven’t seen the light of day in decades, just like we have with AMT and MPC. We’ll also be happy to put the 1934 Ford Pickup tooling back under the original AMT brand, from where it originated.”

Two versions of the 1934 Ford Pickup (below) show the original illustrated 3-in-1 AMT box, with later photo-style Lindberg reissue below.

Love that hobby
Lowe continues: “Like our customers, we love model building. Lindberg and Hawk models are sure to excite modellers of all ages. From the connection with history to a hunger for an understanding of how various machines, both human and mechanical function, the kits created by the original brands have always offered a wide variety of subject matter for model makers, and we plan on continuing that long standing tradition.”

Summation
Sounds good, and SMN is looking forward to a flood of fascinating retro-flavour kits from Round 2’s new brands.

Lindberg kits here, not forgetting the wonderful Weird-Ohs.

And one more thing...

This is a page from the 1958 Lindbergh catalogue, with picture and intro from company president, Paul Lindberg. Love that Convair Hustler!